Lawmakers' paid memberships, conference travel eyed

State membership in legislative group criticized as being too partisan

Apr. 30, 2013

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Legislative travel by the numbers

$500,000: The Legislature’s budget increase, out of which an increase in legislative travel will be paid $118,689: The current year’s dues for South Dakota’s membership in the National Council of State Legislatures $90,249: The current year’s dues for South Dakota’s membership in the Council of State Governments $5,250: How much it would cost to buy a $50 annual membership for all 105 South Dakota legislators in the American Legislative Exchange Council. $2,000: The average cost per legislator per trip to attend out-of-state conferences

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South Dakota Democrats disagree with a decision by legislators to fund membership and travel to a controversial organization’s conferences.

Many Republicans see the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, as a productive gathering of lawmakers of both parties, along with businesses, to share ideas and produce better policy. So they voted last week to pay for legislators to travel to ALEC conferences, and also to pay the $50 per year membership fees in the group.

But Democrats say that’s an inappropriate use of state money. ALEC, they say, is a conservative group dominated by Republicans and corporations.

“Clearly, they’re a very pro-large corporation advocacy group,” said House Minority Leader Bernie Hunhoff, D-Yankton. “They have a right to exist. The problem is taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be supporting that.”

Sen. Deb Peters, R-Hartford, disagreed.

“I would look at it as education, education, education,” said Peters, a South Dakota state chairwoman for ALEC. “Our legislators will get better the more they get to interact with other legislators (from other states).”

It costs the state on average about $2,000 per legislator per trip to send a lawmaker to an out-of-state conference. Because of that cost, legislator travel was severely cut back in 2009 when the recession hit.

From 2004 to 2009, legislators could be reimbursed for travel to ALEC conferences, though they had to pay for their membership themselves.

The $50 per year per lawmaker cost is cheap compared to the other two groups in which the Legislature participates. Its body is a member of the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Council of State Governments, both longstanding nonpartisan groups of state officials.

The current year’s dues for the NCSL are $118,689 for the entire Legislature, or around $1,130 per lawmaker. It costs $90,249 for South Dakota to be a member of CSG, though that cost includes the executive and judicial branches as well.

Critics of ALEC say its dues are cheaper because of contributions from businesses, which also can be a member of the group.

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“Who’s controlling the agenda are the business interests, like the Koch brothers,” said Sen. Larry Lucas, D-Mission, referring to a family of conservative billionaires. “They’re controlling the agenda there and helping write legislation to bring back to all 50 states.”

A spokesman for ALEC did not return a message seeking comment.

Sen. Ryan Maher, R-Isabel, said interactions with corporations at ALEC meetings are positive.

“Yes, there’s corporate people there, too. But you can learn from them,” Maher said. “What better opportunity than to sit down with these people and have a discussion and promote the state of South Dakota as a tax-friendly state?”

Legislators disagreed about whether ALEC was a partisan group, and whether it had an ideological agenda.

“Most of the ideas that come from ALEC, they’re conservative — although for a lot of Republicans, they’re not conservative enough,” said Rep. Charlie Hoffman, R-Eureka and an ALEC member.

But Peters said it’s hard to peg the ideological position of any group, noting that as a member of the NCSL executive board she’s faced accusations the group is both left-leaning and right-leaning.

“One organization may have a right view, one may have a left view, but that’s in the eye of the beholder,” Peters said.

“(NCSL is) more of a group of legislators working together to develop their ideas and strategize about cutting-edge issues — criminal justice, education, health care — versus conservative business groups controlling an agenda that benefits them, and bringing that back and introducing it to our legislators,” Lucas said.

Legislative Democrats have asked that the state not purchase ALEC memberships for them. It’s unclear how that dispute will be resolved. Maher, who oversees legislator travel as the chairman of the Legislature’s executive board, said it’s possible the Legislature could buy 105 ALEC memberships as a group, or it’s possible that it could simply reimburse the membership fees for any legislators who want to join.

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Travel to ALEC meetings, along with NCSL or CSG meetings, will be funded out of a $500,000 budget increase the Legislature approved this year. More trips will be allowed than in recent years, when legislator travel was severely cut back. Maher said he’ll be limiting lawmakers to traveling to only one group on the state’s dime. Those who want to be active in more than one will have to chip in with their own money.

Hunhoff said the travel to ALEC groups is objectionable in itself, but additionally so because of the state’s limited budget and recent cuts to education and health care.

“It would be wrong no matter how flush we are with money, but a lot of good programs have been lost,” he said.

Republicans, on the other hand, said the costs are worth it — and that ALEC is just as worthy of spending as NCSL or CSG, groups Democrats praise.

“In fairness, we surely can be a member of an organization that’s maybe a little bit more conservative,” Hoffman said. “They don’t all have to be less conservative than I think what the Democratic Party would like us to be a part of.”

Legislative travel by the numbers

$500,000: The Legislature’s budget increase, out of which an increase in legislative travel will be paid $118,689: The current year’s dues for South Dakota’s membership in the National Council of State Legislatures $90,249: The current year’s dues for South Dakota’s membership in the Council of State Governments $5,250: How much it would cost to buy a $50 annual membership for all 105 South Dakota legislators in the American Legislative Exchange Council. $2,000: The average cost per legislator per trip to attend out-of-state conferences